BS: Fix Congress First

Subject: BS: First Fix Congress
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 06:18 PM

StillyRiverSage brought us a link to a video by Lawrence Lessig. Now, I've received this bit of hope in the email from him:

Just about 10 months ago, I published an essay in The Nation. The original title of that piece was "The Tyranny of Tiny Minds." (Some thought the title, however valid, was too inflammatory. The actual title as published is "How to get our Democracy Back.")

My argument, Twitter length, was that Obama had betrayed a fundamental promise of his administration: That he would, in his words (from the campaign) "take up the fight" to "fundamentally change the way Washington works."

As Obama had explained to us,

"unless we're willing to challenge the broken system in Washington, and stop letting lobbyists use their clout to get their way, nothing else is going to change."

His campaign, he promised us, was not:

"just about ending the failed policies of the Bush years; it's about ending the failed system in Washington that produces those policies. For far too long, through both Democratic and Republican administrations, Washington has allowed Wall Street to use lobbyists and campaign contributions to rig the system and get its way, no matter what it costs ordinary Americans."

And as he wisely – perhaps, presciently – warned, "if we're not willing to take up that fight, then real change – change that will make a lasting difference in the lives of ordinary Americans – will keep getting blocked by the defenders of the status quo."

It seemed to me obvious in February, 2010, that Obama hadn't "take[n] up that fight." It seemed obvious as well that the consequence of his betrayal would be the trouncing that he and his party received yesterday. It makes me enormously sad to see this trouncing, because I, like many, believe in the changes that "keep getting blocked by the defenders of the status quo" – Obama, it seemed, included.

But "hope" may well have returned. As I was climbing on a plane this afternoon, I listened to the President's press conference. One line caught my attention. In answering a skeptical reporter's question, Obama said:

"We were in such a hurry to get things done, we didn't change how things get done."

Finally. Recognition. If you read this with bits of his interview on The Daily Show, there is reason to hope that "Obama the Reformer" is finally back. Those "tiny minds" – who thought that the only way to make Washington work was to work with Washington the way it always has worked – have left. And perhaps, just maybe, the President has again remembered what he told us two and a half years ago: That the "reason I'm running for President is to challenge that system."

So let him begin today, with the help of all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike. "How things get done" is the problem. We need to find a way to focus America on that problem, and build the political will to change it.

FixCongressFirst.org.

You can help in this by helping us map the plan that will spread this lesson to enough Americans, both supporters of Obama and not. The plan is here. The campaign begins today. Join us.

Lawrence Lessig
Co-Founder, Fix Congress First

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to say, so far, I am impressed and do intend to work with this organisation.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 06:24 PM

Just how was he supposed to "fix" Congress? This would require the cooperation of the Congressmen.
What, abandon my pork and earmarks??

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 07:27 PM

Whatever sense Lessig makes, and there certainly IS a lot in his remarks, I resent his characterization of Obama's 'failure' to achieve his agenda as "betrayal". If you are in a hurry to eat lunch, and you spill some soup, that doesn't make you a slob... it just means you were rushed and briefly careless. Obama himself recognizes that, and shows that, at least, HE is willing to learn and adjust!
It is VERY hard to translate general campaign 'promises' and plans into clear and specific legislation.
Remember the little signs that said: "When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that your objective was to drain the swamp!"
Obama was up to his clavicle in both real problems, AND recalcitrant Republicans. If the economy improves, he can be re-elected and DO some of that 'changing how it all works'...if the economy doesn't improve enough, there's little hope, because you KNOW the Republicans will not change anything that they think they can manipulate!

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 07:36 PM

On the other hand, now would be a good time to put Congress in the garage for an overhaul, since they are not going to be doing anything anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 07:39 PM

I'm agreeable...ask John Boehner.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 07:50 PM

Good points, Bill.

Q, please watch the 18 minute video in its entirety which SRS posted in another thread. My apologies for not providing it in my opening post; Here it is: CLICK HERE.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 08:21 PM

Lessig? No thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 08:50 PM

Well, minds are like parachutes, etc., etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 09:53 PM

I'm tempted to think that the toleration of filibusters is fundamentally undemocratic - but that only really works in the Senate, doesn't it?

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 10:03 PM

Yes...only in the Senate. The Speaker of the House has a lot of power to control debate and the introduction of legislation, but nothing like filibuster.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 02:33 PM

The Senate leader has now lost his ability to control filibuster- 60 votes needed under his wing.

Lessig- a mind like a cockroach on a hot stove- bounces off in all directions.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 03:02 PM

Q, You obviously did not watch the video. He pretty much stays on topic in that one, making some very very limber stretches to do so.

I agree that money corrupts government. But his point that subsidizing corn syrup to make it cheaper than cane sugar being the cause of the childhood obesity epidemic is a stretch that would have Plastic Man calling the chiropractor.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 03:13 PM

Washington can't be fixed... It's too too late... The Repubs would have to be motivated and right now they are at the feeding trough lappin' up as much pork as they can...

Might of fact, had this been Obama's only priority two years ago he would have failed badly...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 04:06 PM

Sugar is not the problem; overuse is.
To avoid fructose, one would have to abandon most fruits and many vegetables.
I did watch the video- part of it- perhaps I should have compared Lessig's mind to a cockroach rattling around in an empty biscuit tin. That vid is not my only exposure to him, unfortunately.

Statement at Mayo Clinic- www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588
After indicating that there is no reliable evidence that corn syrup is worse than cane sugar, guidelines from the American Heart Association are quoted:
".....most American women should consume no more than 100 calories a day from added sugar from any source, and that American men should consume no more than 150 calories a day from added sugar, and that even less is better. That's about 6 teaspoons of added sugar for women and 9 for men."
Now should I imitate Lessig and say that men's greater capacity reflects their larger brains and greater intelligence...........
No, I shouldn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: gnu
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 04:09 PM

I though Congress WAS fixed.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 07:42 PM

If you cannot be bothered to watch the whole video AND try to do so with an open mind, then anything you may choose to say about it has no meaning.

gnu...LOL!!

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 08:00 PM

I watched the whole video. My mind was open enough. I had never heard of Lessig before. He made some good points that I had heard before. His logic was not impressive.

Sugar about as bad a corn syrup.

The thing I don't like about corn syrup is the government picking winners and losers.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 09:49 PM

I should watch Lessig's bouncing ball? He usually loses it in the rough.
An example is his "Against Transparency, the perils of openness in government."
http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/against-transparency.

David Brin, author of "The Transparent Society," says Lessig "can get quite goofy." He does.
Scroll down here-
http://commons.globalintegrity.org/2009/10/lawrence-lessig-is-against-transparency.html.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 10:11 PM

Yeah, gotta watch out where that corn syrup ends up... Read them labels... Some bad sugar... Next thing ya' know they gonna sneak it into spring water...lol...

Like depleted uranium... Sheet fire, ya'll... If the stuff is that great then why not bottle it up and sell it on the innernet fir $19.95 (plus shippin' and handlin') as a cure-all fir whatever ails ya'???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: DougR
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 01:32 AM

kat: Congress is fixed.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 03:12 AM

Damn - the post eating fairy is at it again!

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 03:13 AM

From the outside it looks to me as if there are a number of things that do need rectifying in Congress and the senate and the US electoral system. The funding of elections is bent: if spending is to run uncapped it must at least be properly transparent. Better a rule that all TV ads at least for party candidates have to be paid by the party, and that all donations to parties have to be transparent. The lobbying system is bent: money buys influence. TV coverage is bent: a "balance requirement" badly needs reintroduction. I do not clearly understand it but I think they system of tacking unrelated bits onto bills is bent and facilitates secret legislation: something like the English "long title" rule might help to control this. The filibuster is quite simply indefensible particularly when it has been used as the Republicans have recently used it.

My suspicion is that Dubya's use of "signing statements" was unconstitutional and unlawful and a programme of litigation to the Supreme Court might reverse the apparent effect - if the Supreme court was not bent by the transparently reactionary Bush appointees. A better system of appointment to the Supreme Court is necessary, one that takes the political bias out of the process.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bobert
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 07:53 AM

Yeah, Dogie... The fix is definitely in in Congress and Boss Hog got just what he paid for...

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 09:34 AM

Not in Colorado, he didn't! Nor in California and a couple of other places!

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 09:39 AM

But how could Obama fix any of the above when TeaPublicans will simply filibuster anything out of the Senate?

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 03:11 PM

Maybe, just maybe, if we had Congress fixed....

BE SMART! SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 03:15 PM

The filibuster rule needs to be removed.

The Tea Party (strict constitutionalists) should be demanding it.

A law requires 50% +1 in each house plus the President's signature or 2/3rd in each house without the President's signature.

A Presidential Appointment requires 50% of the Senate +1. What is happening now is not what the framer's intended. Plain and simple.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 03:33 PM

fix congress first

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 06:15 PM

It looked like it was touch and go there early on, but once the absentee ballots were counted, Washington State Democratic imcumbent Senator Patty Murray won over Republican challenger Dino Rossi by 68% of the vote. This, despite Rossi's Republican supporters (mostly from out of state) spending 26 times as much as Murray's campaign cost--on ads trying to trash Murray.

Maybe it's the clean air blowing in off the Pacific, but voters in this part of the country are fairly well on top of things.

Go, Patty!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Nov 10 - 11:46 PM

Good going, Don and other Washington Staters! The outsider money didn't get them their way in Colorado, either.

Rapaire, you are just TOO funny!**BG**

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 12:43 AM

The thing about corn subsidies and corn syrup and corn products in general is a very real problem for a number of reasons, Jack. For one thing, corn is being massively farmed in huge geographical areas that could much better be used to farm a great variety of other things that are more needed than corn. That's bad for the land in terms of both farming and ecology. For another thing, corn is being used to feed millions of cattle and pigs and poultry, and it's not good for them. It's not a natural food for cows, and they have to be given all kinds of drugs to cope with the diet they are fed in the feed lots, because their stomachs are not designed for a diet of corn. They are designed to eat grass! Cows that are allowed to roam around naturally on a piece of land and eat grass grow up much healthier than cows in a feedlot eating corn. They mature more slowly, though, and they don't put on as much weight, so the industry would rather raise sick cows in a crowded and filthy feed lot, drug them, and slaughter them, and feed the unhealthful meat of these sick, drugged, miserable creatures to the public.

The conditions for pigs and poultry are far worse, simply horrifying, in fact. The filthy conditions in factory farming and slaughterhouses are causing more and more frequent cases of deadly food poisoning in the human population, the conditions for both workers and animals are a disgrace, and the hormones being pumped into factory-farmed animals are also negatively impacting the health of the human population. These are additional reasons for obesity in North America, along with: excessive sugar consumption, excessive salt consumption, lack of exercise, sedentary work and lifestyles, preservatives in food, flouridation of tap water, and a host of other contributing factors. Obviously, it is not all because of corn syrup! ;-) It's a bigger picture than that.

Anyway, many of these things are being done because the agricultural industry can make more money that way. These things are covered in "Food Inc." and in numerous books that are out there right now.

The reason corn is being farmed so much is because it's being massively subsidized by the government, so it's more profitable for the growers. That should not have been done in the first place.

This whole thing about corn and sugar is a side issue from fixing Congress, but it results from the usual lobbying processes that have corrupted Congress. Industry bribes Congress to pass legislation and put subsidies and tariffs in place that benefit big business....at a terrible cost to public health, the credibility of the government, and the ecology of the world. These are serious crimes. They are crimes against humanity, against animals, and against Nature. These are the crimes that have mostly killed traditional agriculture...the family farm as it once existed in North America, and that have turned the short, brutal lives of millions of animals into a nightmare. But no one is charged for these crimes, and business goes on as the lobbyists want it to.

The CEOs and boards of directors in charge of factory farming should be made to endure the same conditions that the slaughterhouse workers and the captive animals face....for a week...see how they like it. Then if they don't decide to change it, put them naked in the pig cages for another week alongside the pigs, ankle deep in manure, and shovel some cornmeal and unidentifiable crud in their feed trough each day, shoot them full of hormones and antibiotics to make them gain weight and (maybe) not die, and see how they like that. I think this would soon result in them changing their perspective on the situation.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 02:01 AM

While most of that rings true LH, have you any evidence of harm caused by low level flouridation? There was much debate here in the UK but the balance of the evidence (if I correctly recall) was that flouridation was not harmful.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 02:23 PM

I have no doubt that most of LH's post is true, though I didn't read it.

The problem with Lessig's lecture is not that he attacks corn syrup or corn subsidies. It is that he defends refined sugar as somehow healthier. All I am saying is that in my eyes, that damaged his credibility.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 02:31 PM

Agricultural subsidies- more digression.
Corn is the primary U. S. dollar crop because of the demand for meat products, cattle, hogs and poultry, and its use in many human foods as processed grain as well as sweetener. It is important in the fattening stage and is often mixed with soy; grass cannot support the cattle and hog populations. Grass-fed cattle take much longer to reach saleable size and thus are more expensive to raise. The cost of fossil fertilizers is a factor in raising corn, but also every other agricultural product on the mass market, human or animal.

Corn was, and is an important food for humans- first in America, and currently in Africa.

U. S. Subsidies-
Corn- $4 billion
Cotton- $2.3 billion
Wheat- $2.2 billion
Soy- $2 billion
Rice- $0.5 billion (as high as $1.5 billion in 2003)
etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 03:08 PM

I thought that the total corn subsidies are much higher than that. Is that direct subsidies to growers?

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 06 Nov 10 - 03:12 PM

Disregard the last bit. Your figure appears to be correct.

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Nov 10 - 09:48 PM

From Fix Congress First:

Fix Congress First

This weekend, New York Times columnist Frank Rich published a terrific op-ed titled "Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy."

The public is unhappy, says Rich. In October, only 31% of Americans believed the country was "on the right track." After the midterm elections – supposedly so transformative – that number crawled up to 32%.

People have searched for various scapegoats – the T.S.A., the filibuster, the Democrats, the Republicans. They've offered various solutions – Jon Stewart says we need more civility, Glenn Beck says we need more prayer.

But the root of the problem, Rich argues, is that big money still dominates our political system. Tom DeLay's crimes – for which he was convicted last week – are now legal and easy, thanks to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. Corporate profits just hit a record high while the economy continues to languish. Lawmakers have refused to vote for reform, because – in the words of Senator Jim Webb – "any vote like that was going to screw up fund-raising."

There's one glimmer of good news. 92% of Americans say they want full disclosure of campaign contributions – an overwhelming consensus.

Disclosure is a step in the right direction. But there won't be real reform until we strike at the root of the problem: lawmakers are dependent on the funders, rather than the people they are supposed to represent.

"America needs a rally," says Rich, to restore "governance that's not auctioned off to the highest bidder." That's the movement we're trying to build. Can you help spread the word? Here are some ways to help:

    * Send Frank Rich's column to your friends
    * Invite your networks to join us at FixCongressFirst.org
    * Interact with our social networks on Facebook and Twitter
    * Forward this email to your contacts

Thanks for all you do. As always, if you have ideas or comments, please don't hesitate to be in touch (my email address is [e-mail]).

Onward,

Joey Mornin

Online Director
Fix Congress First

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Nov 10 - 10:30 PM

Yes, it does need a rally... Problem is that after 30 years of right-wing rule a lot of progressives, myself included, are just very disillusioned that there is no longer any chance to break up Boss Hog's ballgame... He basically owns, ahhhhhh, the media and without a microphone there is no way for intelligent people to have a voice... So we end up with Epsilon Nation runnin' the show??? I don't even think that George Orwell could have predicted just how fucked up things could get???

They say that fact is stranger than fiction and this is unbelievable... I'm beginning to see how the German intellectuals felt in the 1930's...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Fix Congress First
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 30 Nov 10 - 02:02 AM

"There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."--Mark Twain

GfS